BACKGROUND
During times of crises including those caused by natural disasters, pandemics, social or political unrest or other emergencies, there is often significant psychological and social suffering that affects members of the population. The psychological and social impacts of emergencies may be acute in the short term, but they can also undermine the long-term mental health and psychosocial well-being of the affected population.
During an emergency, there are numerous interacting social, psychological and biological factors that influence whether people develop psychological problems or exhibit resilience in the face of adversity. Particular groups of people are at increased risk of experiencing social and/or psychological problems depending on the nature of the emergency and it is important to address these differences.
In order to effectively protect, maintain and improve people’s mental health and psychosocial well-being during the times of crises there must be coordinated action among all government and non-government humanitarian actors. It is critical to establish a multi-sectoral, inter-agency framework that enables effective coordination, identifies useful practices and flags potentially harmful practices, and clarifies how different approaches to mental health and psychosocial support complement one another.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) was established as the primary mechanism for facilitating inter-agency decision-making in response to complex emergencies and natural disasters. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) has issued guidelines to enable humanitarian actors to plan, establish and coordinate a set of minimum multi-sectoral responses to protect and improve people’s mental health and psychosocial well-being in the midst of an emergency. The Guidelines offer essential advice on how to facilitate an integrated approach to address the most urgent mental health and psychosocial issues in emergency situations.
A MHPSS Technical Working Group TWG is being established in Jamaica. Representatives of multiple agencies across Jamaica that currently provide MHPSS have met and have proposed a vision and scope for the MHPSS Technical Working Group (TWG).
The core functions of the (TWG) will include: -
- Information management – who does what and where the response and needs of the group,
- activating and maintaining a functional working group
- establishing links across clusters, sectors, and partners
- knowledge building and exchanges
- advocacy for MHPSS
- ensuring Monitoring & Evaluations and ensuring sustainability.
OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY
The key outputs of this consultancy are the Situational Analysis of MHPSS in Jamaica and the terms of reference (TOR) and Action Plan (2022 to 2023) for the MHPSS Technical Working Group. Representatives of multiple agencies across Jamaica that currently provide MHPSS have met and have proposed a vision and scope for the TWG. The consultancy will provide technical support to this multistakeholder body and through wider consultation, will facilitate the preparation of the Situation Analysis, the TOR, and the Action plan of the MHPSS TWG...
Download the full terms of reference below: